Russell Alexander says clashes over the Covid vaccine will raise new legal questions
With Health Canada recently giving the green light on the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children 12 and up, Russell Alexander believes the eventual rollout of the coronavirus vaccine for this age group could lead to further disputes between divorced parents over whether to vaccinate their children, raising new legal questions in family law.
“The pandemic has introduced all kinds of novel legal questions for judges to resolve including whether a child should stay with a parent who is at high risk of being exposed to the virus because of their jobs while remote learning has raised new challenges for existing custody agreements,” said Alexander. “The vaccine is definitely going to be the next dispute in the pandemic among divorced parents, especially with this age group, since children 16 and up can
legally make their own choices about whether to get the vaccine.”
Alexander also said that if a parent has sole legal decision-making authority, they will get to decide whether to vaccinate their child. If they have joint legal decision-making and they disagree with the other parent, they will probably need to go to court over it, but Alexander added that the courts will not be in the business of choosing to vaccinate children and will ultimately defer to medical doctors giving one parent the legal decision-making authority.
“If a disagreement over whether a child should get the vaccine goes to court, ultimately a judge will be looking out for the best interests of the child,” Alexander added. “This could be based off the latest public health recommendations from Health Canada or advice given by their pediatrician. And with older children, courts will listen to their own thoughts about the vaccine.”
